On Female Superiority
by Casa Circe
Summary: Post Boiling Rock.One-shot. Katara observes that some female support during the prison break at the Boiling Rock might have been more than useful. And Sokka makes the fatal mistake of disagreeing. Very random.


Female Superiority

On Female Superiority

_Disclaimer: I do not own the headstrong girls and silly boys of Avatar: the Last Airbender_

_Note: Post-The Boiling Rock (both parts). In a completely unexpected and random instance, this crazy, silly idea took charge of me and wouldn't let me go until I had written it down. Utterly random but I hope it is entertaining nevertheless. Thanks._

--

"There's one thing I don't understand," Katara announced as the entire group of people living at the Western Air Temple were in the midst of relatively peaceful dinner. Zuko was happily serving them tea and the atmosphere was very relaxing.

Things were going very well for the Avatar and his group. Aang had been making significant progress with his firebending and everyone else had been training extensively as well. New and more concrete plans for their invasion were being made. And having friends and family (namely Hakoda, Suki, and Chit Sang) among the group also helped significantly bolster their confidence. Despite the looming prospect of facing the Fire Lord before Sozin's Comet arrived, Aang felt relieved and happy about having so many good friends supporting him.

But since they all spent most of their time weighed down by their responsibilities in the days to come, they made sure that dinner was a light, non-stressful affair, a brief respite from the day's hard work. As much as possible, they tried not to discuss extremely serious topics at the end of the day, in order to give them some time to unwind.

So they were all surprised when Katara made this remark, she being one of the most serious members of the group. The others had mixed feelings about this though. They weren't sure whether she was about to open a serious topic or whether she was going to "try" to tell a joke. No one knew which was worse.

"What's on your mind, Katara?" Hakoda asked his daughter gently, but with slight anticipation.

"Well," Katara answered, addressing her brother and the young firebender, "you've told us all many times about how you rescued Dad, Suki, and Chit Sang from the boiling rock and I couldn't help but notice something strange."

"Sokka was involved, Katara," Toph commented wryly, "why are you even surprised?"

This last statement elicited snickers from some members of the group and a glare from Sokka. Toph grinned back at him showing the futility of his reaction, since she couldn't see his glare anyway.

"It's not that," Katara continued, "it's just that the boiling rock was a high-security metal prison in the middle of the boiling lake, right?"

"Haven't you heard the story enough?" Toph commented again.

Katara ignored this.

"Want us to tell it again?" Sokka said eagerly, causing the others to groan audibly.

"No," Katara replied, "I was just wondering why you didn't take Aang, Toph, or me with you."

"What?" Zuko and Sokka asked simultaneously. Toph and Aang were intrigued and glanced at the two boys as well.

"I mean, fine, taking Aang would be risky," Katara conceded, "but think about it, if you brought me along, I could have frozen the water in the lake with no problem."

This caused all of them to stop and think and to realize that, as usual, Katara was right.

"And Toph can bend metal," Katara continued, "breaking Dad and Suki out would have been a moment's work."

"You're right, Katara," Toph added, only increasing Sokka's nervousness, "things would have been a lot easier if they brought us along."

"And from what I hear," Katara teased, "Suki did a lot of the important work, like capturing the warden, for instance."

Suki grinned proudly at this and looked at Sokka to see his reaction.

"So would bringing a couple other girls have been so much trouble?" Katara ended slyly, daring Sokka to defy her.

And now, all eyes (except Toph's) were focused on Zuko and Sokka. Chit Sang whistled, being accustomed to such pressure from women and he was curious to see how Sokka would handle it. Aang was grinning slyly while Haru, Teo, and the Duke were suppressing snickers. Hakoda wore an amused look and simply waited for his son's reaction.

Zuko raised his hands in a defensive position.

"Don't look at me," Zuko said innocently, "Sokka was the mastermind. I only tagged along to make sure he didn't get himself killed."

"Hey!" Sokka protested, glaring at the firebender, "thanks a lot."

"Well, Sokka," the Kyoshi Warrior teased the Water Tribe Warrior, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

Sokka gulped and could almost feel himself melting under the collective gazes of all the people around him. He quailed slightly from them and racked his "genius" brain for some sort of excuse that might probably work on these dominant females. His sense of pride also refused to be wounded by any of Katara's degrading, yet true, statements. He staunchly refused to be upstaged by his little sister.

So, Sokka straightened his back, cleared his throat in a rather theatrical manner, and looked back proudly at the others.

"Well," he replied, "there are certain situations which are only meant for real men."

A very uneasy silence followed his answer, in which Aang, Haru, Teo, the Duke, Momo, Zuko, Hakoda, and Chit Sang very carefully backed away from Sokka.

The large ex-convict whistled again and muttered, "Wrong move, buddy."

--

"I still think we would have done a better job," Katara said, sipping her tea calmly.

"We might even have finished it in half the time," Toph added.

"I have no doubt about that," Suki commented with a smile, not even glancing to where all the male members of the group had congregated.

Hakoda shook his head with a smile as Haru and Aang began bending the layers of earth and icicles that covered the unfortunate Sokka. Aang used his airbending to dry Sokka up and Zuko ignited a fire with his hands to help the shivering Water Tribe boy warm up.

No one said anything to Sokka out of consideration and he wasn't exactly in the mood to talk about what had just happened. It was much too humiliating. Zuko was tempted to say "you brought this on yourself, you know" but he restrained himself.

Instead, he tried to do another Uncle Iroh imitation, which only elicited a glare from Sokka.

"You have to understand, Sokka," Zuko began, "girls are like wild Komodo Rhinos, they are easy to anger and they show no mercy. So, you should…"

"Oh, shut up, Zuko," Sokka snapped back.


End file.
